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Monday, June 5, 2017

Book Review: Without Words by Delancey Stewart

Sometimes love speaks for itself…

After
an accident in the line of duty, firefighter Roberto DeRosa’s life is
turned upside down. His career fighting fires is over, and he’s left
with an uncertain future and an injury that makes communicating
difficult for him. The only time words flow easily is when they’re
lyrics and he has a guitar in his hands. Talking to women is definitely
out, especially if they have bright blue eyes that seem to see right
into his soul.

Dani Hodge is on the brink of realizing her dream
of opening a small combination wine and book store in San Diego’s funky
Ocean Beach neighborhood. But before she can open the doors, there’s
work to be done, more work than she can do herself.

When the
tattooed guy who completely ignored her at a bar walks by and offers her
a hand wrangling a tile saw, Dani can’t afford to say no—and why would
she say no to Mr. Strong and Silent when his stare conveys more than
words could?

This is the first book I've ever read by Delancey Stewart and I'm a bit ... conflicted ... about my rating. It was nothing big and it's not that the book was bad ... I never would have given it a four star rating if it was, but there were parts that I just felt pulled the speed of the book back from a pretty cantering unicorn to an uncoordinated turtle.

Is the speed or pace of a book that important? I sure think so. Here's the deal ... I've got two kids (boys - aged 14 and 10) on summer break right now and I've got to put down my Kindle every few minutes to break up a fight, be a maid or help decide who gets the last Cheez-It that is stuck between the couch cushions because apparently, those taste better than the brand new box sitting in the pantry and why not fight to the death for a stale, lint covered cracker. I need something that I can put down quickly and pick back up without having to reread the same sentence that I already read seven times because someone keeps asking me at 7:20am when lunch is. To put it bluntly, I just don't have the patience to read the long, descriptive paragraphs about someone's feelings. I end up just skimming paragraphs to get the gist of it and then move on to some exciting stuff.

And that's what I had with this book. Now, the book was well written and maybe to someone else with less neurotic reading preferences, it will be perfect. The storyline was great though, I really liked the unexpected twists that happened a couple of times and you are left at the end of the book feeling completely fulfilled as a reader.

Our main characters, Dani and Rob were written pretty perfectly. Dani has such a kind heart and sweet disposition. She's the kind of girl that you want to be friends with because you know she's going to always be understanding and empathetic. That's not to say she's flawless, she isn't, she has flaws but I'll leave those for you to discover. Now on to Rob. To put it plainly, I adored him. He is perfectly imperfect. Especially in his mind. You'll find Rob endearing and sweet and completely oblivious to how amazing he is. But that's the cool thing about Rob ... you get to experience his character growth and that is truly one of my favorite things about a flawed character.

All in all, pretty good book and maybe if it weren't for my two minions, I would have given it that one extra star. As it is, this is a book that I won't soon forget and one that I'll probably read again. I think I may have found another author to book-stalk.